A total of 26 complaints have been lodged with the Compliance Bureau set up to register complaints regarding saturday's elections, the Election Commission (EC) said on Monday.

Speaking to media, EC's Vice President Ismail Habib said that EC has responded to 17 of the complaints and are looking into 9 other complaints.

He said that the Compliance Bureau has been established in male' city and the city council compliance bureau and atoll compliance bureaus have also been set up in the atolls.

A total of 2,82,395 voters, including over 27,000 new voters, are eligible to cast their votes in the election.

There are eight candidates in the fray this time, including three independent candidates. This is the highest number of candidates contesting the presidential election since the country's constitution was amended and multi-party democracy was introduced. Under the green constitution currently in force, only six candidates contested the first presidential election in 2008, but this time there are eight candidates in the fray, including five candidates contesting on a political party ticket.

According to EC, a total of 574 ballot boxes will be set up across the country, including 176 in Male' area, 319 boxes in atolls, 65 boxes in resorts, eight boxes abroad, five in prisons and one in industrial islands. This is the highest number of ballot boxes ever.